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Okay, Im sorry Ibrahim, but as far as I see it the SAA is preferable to the FSA. 1)Syria is the only secular state in the middle east 2)Syria is second only to Lebanon on the matter of minority and women's equality in the middle east 3)The FSA are dominated by Al Qaeda "Jamat Al Nusra" and anarchists who shell factories that produced food 4)Looking at Muslim brotherhood in Egypt and women getting gangraped in the streets... Assad Senior was right, the only correct way to deal with the Muslim brotherhood and islamists is to snuff them out. 5)Atheists have citizenship rights ensured... 6)As for allies, well, in geopolitics you find yourself spooning with some ugly people...why should Syria be exempt. I dont like Assad, but he is preferable to the "FSA"... build a secular opposition that ensures women's equality and minority rights and you can watch the backbone of SAA support melt away.

Laith, Thank you so much for your very clear description of the problems, goals and ambitions for your nation. Do you feel you have a large enough group with common goals to be able to influence the outcome? What will it take to grow in number? Is there an organizational plan of recruitment and creating public awareness of problems and thinking in terms of a preferred culture? I wish you well in your efforts; with all the turmoil and factions, you have a gigantic task and I respect your efforts. Please do keep me informed. I am watching the films you provided.

1) Anti-Assad refers to the sentiment of disfavor for the current regime headed by Bashar al-Assad/ the Assad family. His father was the leader before him. Some of us are not necessarily anti-Assad, as we feel the strongest opposition to him would be an islamist group and that would be unacceptable. Ideally however, oppressive rules like the Assad family would be replaced with a more free and democratic system.

2)Anti-Islamist refers to a sentiment of disfavor for Islamism as a political movement and those who support it. Islamism is, in a nutshell, the political ideology that Islam should be the basis for the political and legal system put in place in a society. It is in essence a form of theocracy, and Islamists are those who support this concept. Many terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda are in fact Islamist organizations.

3) Free Secular Democratic Syria - the ideal the nation of Syria being free of oppressive rule (Free), of it being under a secular government in which church and state are kept separate from one another (Secular), and a Syria governed by a democratic system of governance (Democratic).

Mission statement... well this is a forum, so our mission is to talk about it. But what we want for Syria (and the rest of the Middle East) is in fact to bring them into the modern age in terms of government and societal structure. To allow for a free civil society governed by modern concepts and ideologies, free of religious, political, or racial oppression.

What stands in the way - An oppressive regime, Islamist militant groups, sectarian divides among the people, and outside influence that is not supporting this ideal, as any foreign interference is generally for the purpose of promoting that foreign party's own personal agenda.

What needs to happen... Well this is a damn difficult question. In my personal opinion, the only real way to bring this about is to completely wipe the slate clean and start from scratch. The only way to do that is with a severe military victory by a group that holds the above ideals. This group would then ideally instill a free, secular, democratic system of government and allow it to play, while also putting into place safety measures to reduce the threat of anti-secular, anti-democratic entities gaining power.

Of course, war is not necessarily the only route, but considering the inherent inability of Arabs to get along and cooperate freely, I tend to favor military oppression of these racist, sectarian tendencies.

What's the major element or commodity in the ground there? w/china and russia being very hungry just getting out of the industrial age now information age n' all.. is it because of Iran looking weaker if Syria goes totally free/secular?